BART labor talks start amid heated discussions of pay, benefits

http://www.keepbartrunning.com/bart_labor_talks_start_amid_heated_discussions

Four years after agreeing to a wage freeze and reduced contributions to their health and retirement plans, BART workers are back at the table for contract talks that appear as though they could be more toxic than in 2009, when there were repeated threats of work stoppages and strikes.

The biggest issues in the contract talks are wages and compensation, including health care and pension contributions.

The unions are asking for an unspecified raise — likely a cost-of-living increase — while maintaining their benefits packages. BART management has balked at these items so far, according to Peter Saltzman, attorney for Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555, the agency’s second-biggest workers group.

Saltzman said that BART is asking for a wage freeze and for workers to contribute about 12 percent more to their annual retirement and medical plans. Saltzman said that amounts to roughly $40 million a year in savings — more than what BART asked of its workers back in 2009, when the unions agreed to concessions of about $25 million a year.

Because of rising health care costs, total compensation for BART workers has increased by 190 percent over the past 13 years, with the average employee now making more than $130,000 a year in total compensation, according to the website. The site notes that workers pay less than $100 a month toward medical costs.

The agency boasts a surplus in its operating budget, but BART management has a capital budget shortfall of $6 billion over 10 years. BART has begun allocating operating funds to cover this hole, a move decried as a scare tactic by the union but defended by BART.